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EU intervention stocks

Updated 03 June 2020

Intervention and Private Storage Aid (PSA) are key parts of the European Commission’s market support programme. Intervention is used to stabilise the market by purchasing surplus supplies, which are then stored. Intervention stocks are then sold through public tenders when market prices increase. PSA provides support payments for storage due to the seasonal nature of dairy production. It helps to stabilise the market for a product in the event of a surplus, and is available at the discretion of the Commission.

Overview

The Intervention scheme allows the European Commission to buy in 50,000 tonnes of butter and 109,000 tonnes of SMP between 1 March and 30 September each year, at a fixed buying in price of €2,217/tonne and €1,698/tonne respectively.

Intervention for butter and SMP is open for 2020 until 30 September.

PSA is available for butter, cheese and skim milk powder. PSA has not been available for dairy products since 2017, but was been re-opened in May 2020 in response to the market disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Private Storage Aid offers

In the week commencing 25 May, applications for PSA were as follows:

5,784 tonnes of butter, including 207 tonnes from the UK. The Netherlands, Ireland and Germany account for the majority of applications.